1999/10/01 by Nicholas J. Saunders · 2 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Social Sciences · Arts and Humanities · #Archaeology and ancient environmental studies #Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies #Maritime and Coastal Archaeology
paper · doi:10.1080/00438243.1999.9980444
openalex publication_date 1999/10/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
Indigenous peoples of the Americas regarded the positive spiritual and creative power of light to be manifested in many brilliant objects ‐ from iridescent feathers to shiny minerals and metals. By contrast, Europeans valued only a few glittering objects ‐ pearls, emeralds, gold and silver ‐ from a commercial standpoint. By adopting a biographical approach to one of these items ‐ pearls ‐ it is possible to explore the ways in which these earliest of traded objects embodied, bridged and transformed the material, social and imagined worlds of Amerindians and Europeans from AD 1492 onwards.